Court Upholds Rule Combatting H-1B Visa Fraud in Blow to Outsourcing Firms

A rule from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), meant to protect American professionals from H-1B visa fraud, was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday.

Indian outsourcing firms, represented by ITServe Alliance, had sued DHS over the rule that prevents such firms from importing foreign H-1B visa workers to take American white-collar jobs without identifying them specifically and moving them to high-wage areas without having to increase their wages beyond the low-wage areas they were initially meant to work in.

The court ruled that the rule is within DHS’s authority to require U.S. companies to file a new or amended petition to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency when changes are made to their original H-1B visa petition:

Because USCIS may consider [Labor Condition Application]-related issues in exercising its own authority to approve, disapprove, or revoke H-1B petitions, it may require new or amended petitions corresponding to changes in the place of employment that necessitate the filing of new [Labor Condition Applications]. [Emphasis added]

The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) praised the decision as a win against H-1B visa fraud in favor of American professionals.

“It’s easy to see why businesses don’t like this rule; they want staffing companies to be able to circumvent the visa caps, so they can pay people less,” IRLI Executive Director Dale Wilcox said in a statement.

“But fraud on the American worker is against the law, and the DHS rule attacked here is clearly needed to stop it,” Wilcox continued. “We are pleased that the court agreed with us today, and ruled in favor of American workers and American wages.”

IRLI had filed a brief in the case, urging the court to uphold the rule by noting the various forms of fraud that already exist in the H-1B visa program and that would likely be exacerbated if the rule was gutted:

The H-1B visa program is notorious for its rampant fraud. The last compliance audit found that 13.4% of approved H-1B visas were fraudulent. In addition to its frequency, H-1B fraud takes place on a massive scale, often involving thousands of foreign workers and millions of dollars. [Emphasis added]

…

In order to weed out the existing rampant H-1B fraud efficiently, the Department of Homeland Security needs to know the location where each H-1B non-immigrant is supposed to be working. [Emphasis added]

For years, Breitbart News has chronicled the abuses against white-collar American professionals as a result of the H-1B visa program. There are about 650,000 H-1B visa foreign workers in the U.S. at any given moment. Americans are often laid off in the process and forced to train their foreign replacements, as highlighted by Breitbart News.

The case is ITServe Alliance, Inc. v. DHS, No. 22-5074 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.